Services converge on Florida for virtual combat exercises

More than 2,000 defense contractors and military personnel took part in electronically simulated military exercises at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference here. Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles got the conference off to a festive start when he renamed the Central Florida Research Park the National Center for Simulation.

The main showroom floor resembled a conference of video games on steroids, with large monitors showing helicopters shooting at tanks and simulated infantry-men attacking a fortified town. Participants drove simulated military vehicles through a virtual desert and tried to land an F-18 fighter on a small runway.

But military simulation is more than fun and games. Silicon Graphics Inc. had one of the largest displays at the conference. It demonstrated real-life pilot training for day and night missions.

David "Bart" Bartlett, modeling and simulation manager for Silicon Graphics, has been working with simulation technology for years. He said it was no surprise the showroom floor looked like a giant video arcade.

"Ten years ago, the military started using simulation technology for flight training to save money, and the entertainment industry started to pick up some of that technology for movies and games," he said. "Today, the entertainment industry is more advanced, and the government is looking to capitalize on that."

Bartlett said the skills players learn from home computer flight simulators actually transfer into the world of military training simulations.

"My son played Wing Commander and TIE Fighter on our computer at home," he said. "Then I took him to Patuxent River Naval Air Station and put him in a real F-18 simulator. This was the real thing, and he was easily able to shoot down the first plane they threw at him."

One factor pushing simulation technology into the mainstream is its acceptance in the entertainment arena.

As people become more comfortable with simulators for entertainment, their use as a training tool will be more acceptable, Bartlett said.

Another factor is decreasing cost.

"Simulation technology that cost $30 million 10 years ago, today would cost no more than $5,000," he said.

Military simulations have gone through three stages, according to speakers at the conference, and all three levels were present on the show floor.

First-generation simulators require users to enter into a large domed structure, and the simulation appears all around. Many simulations still use this technology and have the added effect of real motion.

Interactivity with simulators on large projection systems eliminated the need for special enclosures and formed second-generation simulation technology. Most systems at the convention were this type.

The third stage in military simulation technology is electronically linking dispersed simulators so people can work as a team or fight one another in real time.

For example, Lockheed Martin Corp. linked a Humvee driving simulation to a helicopter simulation at the conference. If the person piloting the helicopter flew overhead, the Humvee driver could hear the whirl of the blades and see the helicopter on one of three display monitors.

Michael Genetti, manager of business development for Lockheed Martin, said the Army had more than 20 Humvee simulators linked for training exercises at bases around the country.

The next generation of simulations will employ distributed architectures with real-world links, Bartlett said. For example, a commander could download a map of current conditions in Bosnia and have pilots fly a simulated mission based on real weather and known enemy positions.

Silicon Graphics is experimenting with high-end simulation in a new reality center in downtown Orlando.